Presbytery

Saturday was Presbytery. No great issues discussed. No lines in the sand crossed. Just met with a hundred or so Presbyterian elders & ministers. No no votes. No one protested. You would think it would be boring for 6 hours. Yet time flashed past. We the people governing ourselves, inviting new ministers to join us.

One thing we do is have people pray during Presbytery. People volunteer to be a designated "pray-er" As a symbol, we have a stole we pass to the one praying. People just pray from where they are in the room, so it is truly prayer from the group, not someone outside. I got the chance to ask people to volunteer, then transfer the stole. A visible symbol of an invisible spiritual act. A "sacrament", even though we Presbyterians only have two official sacraments. I've thought we truly have more than two if we thought about it.

Marriage is one. You will find more long term marriages in the PCUSA than most places. 40, 50 years together. People for whom til death do us part is truly meant. Or death has not separated. The surviving spouse does not fear death, they know their beloved awaits. Marriage where God was part of the ceremony and the marriage. So even if we don't call it sacrament, it functions as one.

Today's poem was inspired by the question of what presbytery should be. What God intends it to be. What we fall far short of doing and being.

Presbytery

Are you a body
devoted to Me?
Serving together
rejoicing & grieving.

Or are you machine
chewing up people?
Concerned only with
process & rules.

Come together
in silence.
Hear Me - then
follow Me as one.
(inspired by...J)
© Presbypoet January 24, 2009